Early Wodehouse Poetry Recovered

The Independent reported on Sunday that British researchers have uncovered a large trove of early P.G. Wodehouse work.  The researchers found Wodehouse's contributions to The Glove and Traveller, an evening newspaper in the Edwardian era that employed the young Wodehouse as a full-time assistant between 1901 and 1903. Wodehouse, born in 1881, was only 20 years old when he went to work for the newspaper.

Wodehouse's columns graced the front page of the newspaper as part of a regular feature called "By the Way." The columns, which were pithy comments on the morning news, often included poetry.  Researchers reported that over 500 previously unknown poems were discovered in the columns that are believed to have been authored by Wodehouse.

The researchers were part of a group called the Wodehouse Reclamation Project. They found The Glove and Traveller on microfilm in the British Newspaper Archive, part of the British Library, Boston Spa, in Leeds.

The project has printed one of the poems, entitled "The Usual Lament," on its website along with further details of the discovery.  Plans are in place to collect the Wodehouse poetry for book publication in the next few years.

[Image of Wodehouse from Wikipedia]